When the Stones Speak by Doron Spielman

When the Stones Speak

The Remarkable Discovery of the City of David and What Israel's Enemies Don't Want You to Know

Doron Spielman

Hachette Nashville · Print & ebook · May 13, 2025

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER This is the untold story of the rediscovery of the ancient City of David in Jerusalem and the powerful evidence that proves the Jewish people’s historical and indigenous connection to the Holy Land.

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Who it’s for
A brisk blend of archaeology, biblical resonance, and Israeli place-making.
Genres
Israel & Palestine History, Jewish History, Archaeology
Published
Hachette Nashville, May 13, 2025

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For younger readers: Faith and Fury: the Temple Mount and the Noble Sanctuary: the Story of Jerusalem's Most Sacred Space, Where Is Jerusalem?, Accidental Archaeologists: True Stories of Unexpected Discoveries

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About this book

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER This is the untold story of the rediscovery of the ancient City of David in Jerusalem and the powerful evidence that proves the Jewish people’s historical and indigenous connection to the Holy Land. Since the founding of Israel in 1948, the Jewish people have faced nine wars against multiple enemies. Yet, beyond the physical conflicts, a deeper ideological battle has been waged against Israel and the Jewish people.

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This war, crafted by certain Arab leaders and echoed by international organizations like the United Nations, seeks to erase the Jewish people’s ancestral ties to the land, casting them as outsiders, imposters, and “settlers.” One thing, however, stands in the way of the denialists: the 3,800-year history of the City of David, a site lying just south of the Old City. Archeologists at the site are unearthing evidence that proves the Jewish people’s origin story in the land for over three millennia. Every shovel of dirt reveals that while others may claim to be indigenous to Jerusalem, the Jewish people are, in fact, more indigenous to the Land of Israel than perhaps any other group living anywhere in the world. This is the timely story of those who transformed City of David from a neglected hilltop village into one of the most important archeological heritage sites in the world, while facing powerful global institutions and terror groups that would do almost anything to keep this truth hidden. Highly relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book foreshadows the events and historical denialism that unfolded with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Stones Speak

A brisk blend of archaeology, biblical resonance, and Israeli place-making.

Come here for

  • City of David intrigue
  • Bible-and-history overlap

Expect

  • Cultural-literacy payoff
  • Faith-and-history tension

Where it sits

Israel & Palestine History77%
Archaeology46%
Jewish History37%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Israel & Palestine History
  • Religion & Politics
  • Jewish History
Authors
Doron Spielman
Publisher
Hachette Nashville
Published
May 13, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Israel & Palestine History